By Balkish Awang
KUALA LUMPUR: A well-written resume is crucial for job seekers as it will help prospective employers determine if they are a good match for the position they are applying for.
These days, job seekers need not struggle to create a good resume that can improve their chances of securing an interview or two as resume writing services are widely available online at reasonable fees.
A resume typically outlines one’s personal background, educational qualifications and work experience. Adding pertinent information that can pique the interest of a prospective employer will also stand job applicants in good stead.
Help others to find jobs
Among the many resume writing service providers is Nurul Ain Abdul Wahid, 24, who – with the help of her sister Nadiah Shahirah, 22 – began offering the service in July this year and charges her customers a nominal fee of RM10 for each resume she helps to write.
All she needed to get her business off the ground was a laptop, tablet and Internet access.
Nurul Ain, who lives in Pasir Mas, Kelantan, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Universiti Sains Malaysia, promotes her Resume by Nurul service on her Instagram and TikTok accounts and the response so far has been overwhelming.
Barely one month after embarking on this service, she received a whopping 1,000 requests for her resume writing services in a single day, which kept her busy till September.
She resumed accepting new orders for her service only after fulfilling her outstanding commitments.
“I didn’t expect to receive such an encouraging response from people who needed help to write their resumes,” she told Bernama, adding that from now she would limit her monthly orders to 400.
She spends 15 hours a day writing resumes for her clients and is able to complete 15 to 20 pieces a day.
In spite of the good demand for her service, Nurul Ain plans to retain her RM10 fee as she does not wish to deviate from her original intention of assisting job seekers who need help writing their resumes.
“I know others charge higher, even up to RM200, for the same service. But I get a lot of satisfaction by helping others to apply for a job and earn a living,” she said.
She said some of her satisfied customers pay her more of their own volition, adding many people have also asked her if it is worthwhile to charge only RM10 per resume.
“To me, the amount I charge is not important. The important thing for me is I can help people to find jobs, that’s all,” she said, adding she makes about RM4,000 a month from her resume writing service.
Templates for resumes
Nurul Ain said her interest in resume writing started when she was in the final semester of her studies and was looking for part-time job opportunities. She found many people offering resume writing services on social media and realised there was a good demand for such a service.
Nurul Ain writes resumes for her clients in either Bahasa Malaysia or English, offering them a choice of 46 resume templates or formats.
“In fact, I want to add new templates but I’ve not been able to find the time to create them as I’m busy meeting my clients’ orders,” she said.
She said once a client picks the template they want, she would provide them with a Google Form link to fill in the particulars and information required for the resume.
Initially, her clients sent the information via WhatsApp but when her clientele grew bigger, she turned to Google Form to facilitate her work and ensure no information is left out.
According to Nurul Ain, information deemed mandatory in any resume comprises the applicant’s full name, telephone number, email identity, address, educational background, work experience, cocurricular activities, skills and others.
“If a job applicant has worked before, his or her work experience must be included in the resume as most job sectors now want to hire people with experience. If you have a lot of experience (work), even if it is just running an online business, put it in your resume. Some people don’t put it in for certain reasons.
“Besides work experience, job seekers can also include in their resumes any cocurricular activity or programme or project they participated in while at school,” she said, adding this will come in useful for school leavers without work experience.
“Their participation in cocurricular activities can enhance their resumes as it will enable the human resource department to evaluate their level of activity and involvement.”
Last but not least, any skill possessed by job seekers must also be mentioned in their resumes.
“It can be computer or language skills or any other skill. This is important because the human resource department will want to know what kind of skills the job applicant has.
“Don’t think your skill is too trivial to include (in your resume). Even if the skill you have is limited to editing videos using the CapCut app, list it down. To get a job, it’s important for you to promote or market yourself well,” said Nurul Ain.
Her clients are mostly fresh graduates as well as those who are already employed but looking for new jobs.
“I also have many housewives among my clients… they want to return to the workforce and most of them don’t know what are the important things to include in a resume,” she said, adding that she also has clients who are in their 50s and do not possess computers or IT skills.
Nurul Ain added even if she gets a full-time job eventually, she will continue writing resumes as “many people are in need of this service”. – BERNAMA
